Dublin senior football manager Dessie Farrell has confirmed that Paul Mannion and Jack McCaffrey will return to the Dublin panel for the 2023 season.
Six-time All Ireland winner Mannion stepped away from inter-county football in 2020, while five-time winner McCaffrey hasn't featured for the Dubs since the 2019 All Ireland final replay against Kerry.
During their hiatus, both men have poured cold water on the prospect of donning the sky blue shirt again. However, in an interview with DubsTV on Sunday, Dessie Farrell confirmed the return of the two Dublin legends.
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"Good news is we'll have Jack McCaffrey and Paul Mannion rejoining the squad next year as well," said Farrell.
"So that'll be a great help to us in terms of the development and continuous evolution of the team and the squad."
"And of course we'll be hoping that by the time the championship ends we'll have a sprinkling of one or two other new players to bring in."
McCaffrey burst onto the scene in 2013 and quickly established himself as one of the most explosive half-backs the game has ever seen. Awarded footballer of the year in 2015, the 28-year-old missed out on the Dubs All Ireland win in 2016, as he spent the year travelling.
The Clontarf flyer holds the novel record of being one of the few players to be named man of the match in back to back All Ireland finals, winning the award for his performance against Tyrone in 2018 and Kerry in 2019.
The latter of these games proved to be McCaffrey's final appearance in a Dublin shirt. Despite scoring 1-3 in the replay final against Kerry, McCaffrey found the build up to the rematch extremely draining and has since gone on the record about how this contributed to his decision to step away.
Three-time All Star Mannion hasn't featured for the Dubs since he scored a point from the bench in the 2020 All Ireland final. Despite initially being a squad player, Mannion forced his way into the side and started the 2017, 2018 and 2019 All Ireland finals.
The 29-year old Kilmacud star seemingly closed the book on his Dublin career earlier this summer after transferring to Donegal Boston in the USA.
Mannion's stint in the states was short lived, and the forward has since returned home to Kilmacud Crokes, striking up a formidable partnership with Galway superstar Shane Walsh.
The return of the two perennial All Ireland winners is a massive boost to Dublin's 2023 prospects. The Boys in Blue have endured two disappointing seasons in a row since their last Sam Maguire triumph in 2020, but are surely going to be considered to be one of the hot favourites come next summer.
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